𝐞𝐠𝐨 𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐜𝐤 · 𝐚𝐥𝐟𝐢𝐞 𝐬𝐨𝐥𝐨𝐦𝐨𝐧𝐬

𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐭𝐞𝐞𝐧

EVELYN COULDN'T REMEMBER much about her mother, only memories that were lived through stories her aunt and brothers told her. One specific time that left a lasting impression was when Polly had told Evelyn about her mothers guilt for allowing herself to stay in a relationship with Arthur Shelby Sr., their father.

Polly had told Evelyn that the only way she could bring comfort to the sick woman was to tell her that she couldn't go back and change the past, so she must look to the future and make sure not to make the same mistake twice – and while their mother didn't get the chance to move forward from her mistakes, but Evelyn did. 

Alfie froze in his steps, eyes immediately catching sight of the girl he had thought he lost. Losing his grip on his walking stick, it fell to the ground with a deafening clang, mouth opening and closing – being at a loss for words wasn't something that Alfie Solomons found himself, but he physically couldn't find any words to speak.

Hesitantly and a little apprehensively, Evelyn climbed down from the ring – her family parting for her to walk past them towards her fiancé, his eyes wide as she stopped a few feet short from him. 

"Hey Alf," she timidly whispered, hands clasped tightly together as she waited for him to speak. It took Alfie almost five minutes to finally comprehend that what he was seeing was real, before he bent down and picked up his walking stick, turning on his heels before beginning to walk out of the building. 

Panicked, Evelyn ran after him – the rest of her family trailing behind the pair, waiting in the doorway. "Alfie!" 

Alfie ignored her, the sound of her voice that he had been playing in his mind like a record on repeat for the last five months too hard to comprehend in real life.

"Alfie! Stop walking so bloody fast!" She cried out in complaint, making a sudden burst of suppressed rage within Alfie burst out – as if he was a stick of dynamite thats fuse had been slowly burning, only exploding now.

Hastily turning around, Alfie exasperatedly held out his arms, pointing the end of his cane towards Evelyn. He couldn't believe this was happening. He couldn't believe that Evelyn was alive, that she was standing right here in front of him not six feet under ground like he had last thought. 

"What Evelyn?!" He seethed, resentment obvious in his tone causing the girl to stumble back at the harshness of the way he spat her name with such disgust. "Were yer' expectin' me to welcome yer' back with open arms, eh? You made me think you were fuckin' dead when you were alive the whole time!"

"Alf, let me explain – please!"

"Fuck off!" Alfie spat back, rolling his eyes so hard that Evelyn was sure they'd get stuck in the back of his head. "No Evelyn, you don't get to just resurrect like yer' from the fuckin' bible! This is real life, you don't get to restart things when you made an obvious mistake, fucks sake!"

Letting the tears that had built up on her lash line fall, Evelyn felt a soft sob bubble up in her chest as she watched Alfie take off his hat, running one hand through his hair; tugging on the roots in frustration. The man began pacing, his mind running in continuous loops as he tried to piece everything together.

How was she here? Where was she this entire time if she wasn't dead? Who was buried in her fucking grave?  

She took note of how tired he looked – but in a way he also looked tougher. He had changed since he thought she was dead, and she didn't know how she felt about it. 

"This is my fault, all of it," she desperately wanted to reach out and take his shaking hand in hers. "I regret it so badly and you have no reason to still trust me, not after what I did Alf. But if you let me explain, I will make this right. I promise."

"Do yer' feel any fuckin' remorse?" The pure animosity in Alfie's voice had Evelyn taking a step back – she had never seen him this mad before, not even at his workers. He wildly gestured towards her family, "do you feel anything for what you did to them? To me?!"

"Of course I do Alfie! I didn't want to do it – this wasn't what I wanted! But we needed to kill the Franks and I would do it again if it meant that they ended up dead and there's one less enemy to my fucking family! To you!"

Shaking his head, Alfie began took a few steps towards her, grabbing her left hand - his fingers removed the diamond on her ring finger. "You can say goodbye to everything we ever fucking had. I never want to see you again." He spat.

Beginning to walk backwards, Alfie's eyes never meeting Evelyn's for a second too long – as if he didn't want to convince himself that this was really happening. That the girl he had spent months grieving and losing himself over had really fooled him in a way that was ultimately unforgivable.

"I was gonna fuckin' sell  yer' out, Tom," Alfie darkly chuckled, watching as Tommy walked up behind his sister. "Startin' to think that maybe I shoulda gone through with it."

"Alfie if you just let me expla-"

"I don't want to fuckin' hear it!" He cut Evelyn off, tears clouding his vision as he fought against every cell in his body to just pull her into his arms – the feeling of pure betrayal from the love of his life cutting through his chest and tearing it open. "Things coulda been different, yer' know? You didn't have to fall so fuckin' far."

With one final look at Evelyn who was pleading with her eyes for him to just stay and listen, Alfie turned his back to her; walking away trying his hardest to ignore the torn wails Evelyn was letting out as Tommy tried to comfort his sister. 

And in-between the racing beats of her shattering heart and his soul crumbling to ashes –he was the one who had the right to be heartbroken. Not her.